Please keep in mind the setting (the in universe era they are living in at the time) Kirk had a role similar to Lewis and Clark so galactic laws agreements were still being made, Picard lives in a era were the Laws are already stablished and for the other Captains?!... Well we need to get there!! "It`s easy being a saint in paradise! Cap. XXXXXXX
Since you like the Enterprise Computer in the hallways so much: Remember that during this time there were no touchscreens, and flatscreens were insanely expensive. So all the computer displays are not actual computer graphics. Every design, every graphic on those screens is handmade by Michael Okuda, a designer who worked on all the shows from TNG onwards (and some of the movies). They are custom made panels that are backlit. They were cheap to make but they had to custom design all of them. The user interface design that he created in this style remained a constant and kind of the Star Trek computer operating system of this era. Michael Okuda and his wife were some of the most important people for the design of Star Trek of this era. Nowadays you can simply create this sort of screen with an actual funtional touch-display. not back then. It was all hand-made.
It's impossible for any post Gen X individual to understand that all that production design of TNG influenced nearly every aspect of modern consumer electronics including how operating systems function via things like various interfaces. These things like tablets, smart phones, hands free communication devices, NONE of it existed in any way a vast majority of consumers could get their hands on at that time.
@@miguelvelez7221Oh yes! since we are talking about that scene, don't forget how they also normalized women checking out their bosses butt while they walk away, because lycra onesies with no pockets were considered a military uniform. Classy, right?
Greetings young fellas, I am glad you enjoyed the first episode of TNG. As a 63 year old Star Trek/Wars NERD, when TNG first came out I tried really hard NOT to like it because in my mind at the time NO ONE could replace Kirk, Spock et' al. But after a few episodes I began to realize they were not REPLACING TOS they were building the universe. I grew to LOVE TNG and the rest of Star Trek as a whole universe. Live long and prosper, young fellas.🖖
Hi. I, too, am 63 and have been watching Star Trek most of my life. I remember watching it during its original run, but it wasn't until it went syndicated that I really got into it. As for Star Wars, I'm sure you're like me and remember when the first movie was just "Star Wars", not "Episode IV: A New Hope" and watched it on a WIDE screen, and possibly at a drive-in!
1. First, I have a request: For the sake of avoiding spoilers, could everyone please refrain from mentioning whether any non-regular cast members in this episode reappear in later episodes? I think this would go miles towards enhancing the guys’ enjoyment. Thanks!
Comments are gonna definitely spoil some stuff (heck, thumbnails on paramount spoil stuff 😤). But I agree wholeheartedly with ya! Be way more fun if the fellas get slapped with...well, surprises, of course. 🖖
I had a friend in 9th grade freaking spoiler Spock in Wrath of Khan for me, I have still not forgiven that child. People who spoiler just need to know, there's a special hell.
@@angelainamarie9656 To be fair The Great Bird also talked a lot about that one before the film. Everyone knew before watching it on release. That's why the fake out at the start works, we knew it would happen, but we weren't prepared for it twice.
22:45 "Maybe in the future, the glass is so strong..." But it's not glass, it's transparent aluminum! And you're right, Data is not Spock...he's Xon. (Xon was a full-Vulcan character written for _Star Trek Phase II_ who had never worked with humans before, and is having to learn on the fly how to interact with such emotional beings.)
I went to a Trek Convention in England in 1987. We saw the whole of Season 1 in 3 and a half days. To cap it off, Patrick Stewart turned up on the Monday. We were already blown away by what we had just seen, a whole 10 months before it aired on BBC1. Patrick was treated like the 2nd Coming. It was amazing! You boys are in for one hell of a ride. Enjoy!
This episode may be in my bottom tier of TNG episodes, but Bones telling Data, “You treat her like a lady … and she’ll always bring you home,” is one of my favorite moments in the whole franchise.
Ah, so you weren't further dismayed that they had to get characters from other series to vouch for it, to actually come onto the show itself to vouch for it? Didn't that seem like they knew it wasn't good enough to stand on its own two feet? 🤮
@@TheNoiseySpectator Maybe if it was a reoccurring event for members of the old cast to show up and tell the new crew are awesome they were and how amazing this new Enterprise is I would agree. But one quick cameo in the pilot felt more like “old Star Trek” christening the Enterprise-D and sending the new crew on their way.
I feel that that complaint probably surfaced a LOT later. I know this is anecdotal, but I don't recall anyone of my friends or family who watched TNG and didn't like that cameo. However, it's important to realise three things: 1. The internet as we know it didn't exist yet. There was no giant echo chambre for people to discuss shows. Other than talking with your friends or coworkers, you needed to actually go to a con to discuss things and cons were generally small and positive. 2. Not only were there no other Star Trek shows to compare TNG to, most people only had vague (but positive) memories of the original series. There was no streaming TV, no blurays or VHS tapes of the show, no bootleg downloads. If TOS wasn't playing in reruns in your area, you hadn't seen it since the original run. 3. Crossovers, cameos, and stunt casting were super common across all genres of TV in this period. Having someone from TOS guest star on TNG was nothing. We're lucky they didn't use the holodeck to have a Harlem Globetrotters episode.@@TheNoiseySpectator
PBU DeForest Kelley, and the irascible country doctor he portrayed, who traveled among the stars, romanced a queen, and plied his trade among dozens of worlds and nonhuman races.
As a college age Trekkie when this first aired, let me confirm some things: The Kelley cameo was not part of the promotion, it was a complete surprise. The Star casting at the time were LeVar Burton, well regarded for his role from Roots, and Will Wheaton, who was fresh off the hit movie Stand By Me. Deanna Troi was not well regarded from the pilot performance alone, and Jonathan Frakes was dismissed as a pretty face. DC Fontana wrote the Farpoint mystery, then Roddenberry added the Q story. Dorothy was mot happy with that. Some trivia: John DeLancie was fresh off of Days of our Lives, from which he played a love interest to Arleen Sorkin. She would go on to land her most famous role, the voice of Harley Quinn on Batman TAS.
If you've never seen the movie "Toy Soldiers", I recommend it. Will Wheaton was in that movie, and while I don't drop any spoilers (in case you haven't seen it).... it's my favorite role of his.
@@melanieszelong4664 True, I recently saw the clip of her dressed as a clown on Days of our Lives that Paul Dini said inspired him. Interesting, as her character Calliope was more an homage to Cyndi Lauper with her New Yawk accent and weird clothes. Wow, that takes me back, lol
DC Fontana wasn't just angry that Rodenberry added Q, she was angry that he got the top writing credit, and I think it impacted her fees too. Rodenberry did something similar with TOS; he wrote lyrics for the theme song never intending them to be sung; even though they were never performed, it entitled him to one half the performance royalties for the music because it made him a co-composer, taking the money out of Alexander Courage's pocket.
Glad to be the champagne bottle breaking on the bow of the new addition to these reacts. Small trivia that you may have heard but just in case: the ceiling of the Enterprise-D transporter was actually the floor of the TOS Enterprise's transporter.
When this first aired, one newspaper TV critic that I followed mentioned that the creators of ST:TNG imagined a future so litigious that every starship has a lawyer on board. After I watched the episode, I realized that the critic misunderstood the role of "Counselor" Troi.
Corey Allen directed TNG’s pilot “Encounter at Farpoint.” Corey was my acting teacher in film school way back in 1997. Corey also acted in “Rebel Without a Cause.” He played the gang leader Buzz who had the famous knife fight with James Dean. Corey was one of the nicest people I’ve ever met in Hollywood. RIP.
I was born in 1980 so this is the Star Trek I grew up on, then I watched the original series after. I'm so happy that you guys reacted to any Star Trek at all, it is such a heartwarming TV show that I think enriches all who love it. Thank you for all your hard work and patience! 🖖 "Pain..... terrible...pain...." The best captain ever is in your future Voyage!❤️
88 for me, but for some reason, the original films are the most nostalgic for me, the undiscovered country, if definitely in my top 3 out of all the movies
I was also born in the early 80s, so I also grew up with TNG, but my mom and dad were both Star Trek fans, so the original series was also present. I'm sure I saw TNG first, but I think they used to play TOS reruns on KWNG Denver when I was growing up so I believe I grew up with both kind of simultaneously.
16. LeVar Burton was the best-known member of TNG’s cast to American audiences in 1987 and was emphasized in early news stories about the show’s production. He first achieved prominence in the 1977 TV miniseries "Roots," hosting the PBS children’s series "Reading Rainbow" from 1983 onwards. Years later, when Burton appeared on Stephen Colbert’s talk show, Colbert gave a description of him which I found screamingly funny, even if it was slightly politically incorrect. I wish I could quote it exactly, but it was something to the effect of, “We saw him overcome slavery, achieve literacy, and graduate first in his class from Starfleet Academy.” Actor Tim Russ ("The Twilight Zone": “Kentucky Rye” and “Voices in the Earth”) was the first runner-up for the role of Geordi La Forge. Other candidates included Clarence Gilyard ("Matlock"), Kevin Peter Hall (also considered for Data), Reggie Jackson (yes, the baseball player!), Eriq La Salle (who went on to great success on the medical drama "ER"; he also guest-starred in “Memphis,” a 2003 episode of the *third* version of "The Twilight Zone"), Victor Love ("Native Son"), Chip McAllister ("The Greatest"), and Wesley Snipes (!!), who was then at the beginning of his career and, of course, went on to become a major star. Riker beaming up to the Enterprise is not inherently a strong enough moment to justify its being an act break; its real significance is that the audience is seeing the TNG transporter effect for the first time, which would have carried great weight in 1987.
You two have the right attitude towards the first two seasons of TNG. As someone who watched it when it first came out, I enjoyed it. Sure some episodes are weak and the actors take a while to figure out their characters but if you consider when it was made and that this is only the 2nd Star Trek show ever you will find a lot to enjoy here. Most people complaining about these seasons are comparing it to just about every Trek show and movie ever made. By watching Trek in chronological order I think you'll be able to appreciate TNG just like I did when it first came out. Have fun!
It’s hard to explain what it was like growing up a classic Trek fan (from 70s reruns and seeing the movies as they came out) to sit down with my best friend and fellow Trekker in front of a TV the night TNG premiered.
Same here, I was in a room with a half dozen other nerds the night it first aired, and we were all super excited. We were a bit underwhelmed because the first episode just isn't that great, and Patrick Stewart wasn't then the legend he is now. Nevertheless it became a weekly addiction which paid off as it got (much) better over time.
I saw it on reruns, when young. And was only two years old, when it first debuted. But I soon got drawn in. And the movies, too. In fact, I hardly saw much of TOS, til later.
"In the 24th Century; there will be no hunger, there will be no greed, and all the children will know how to read." - Gene Roddenberry. It's kicking off. It's kicking off! The NEXT Generation. Here we are gentlemen. "Welcome to the 24th Century."
I watched the premiere with friends back in '87 and we were all thrilled. The fact that Roddenberry was in charge gave us hope. The biggest reaction from us was for McCoy's appearance and the saucer separation sequence. That was something that was mentioned in TOS and it was great to finally see it. While the first couple of seasons has its share, maybe more than its share, of clunky episodes, there are some good ones. There's one that might appeal to your horror sensabilities. The first two seasons are like a shakedown cruise. It's where they find out what works and what doesn't. The characters and actors build their relationships and get confortable with each other. Some elements are dropped. Some are changed. Some might not reach their full potential until later Trek series. Some characters are moved around until they find where they're meant to be. Roddenberry did put limitations on what kind of stories could be told and that may of hampered things in the early seasons when he was fully in charge. Some episodes are definitely cringeworthy. One, I thought, felt like an Afterschool Special. Another is notoriously bad and is the epitome of "hasn't aged well" . It's often cited as the worst TNG episode. Maybe the worst Trek episode ever. But, it was Star Trek on weekly TV where it was meant to be and real Trek fans were happy to tolerate its growing pains to be rewarded when it finally found its footing.
Well, which episode are you talking about? The one where they all got infected with the space intoxication disease and got horny & a certain female character got her ticket punched by an android? The one where they visited the planet of the Swedish sex people who punish every single crime with the death penalty and some magical space spaceship - angel won't them leave until a certain main character is executed? Or, the one with the stereotypical Irish people running amok all over the ship? I think the Worst one was where Troi's mother was going through Menopause - Horney disease and came aboard to try to Bed Picard, got all hot for a holodeck character, but in the end saved them from the goldfish people. But, there were so many of them that could be considered 0 /100. We just plain need you to be more specific. 🤷♂
I remember reading about when TNG came out that people complained that TOS was "lightning in a bottle", that it was something special that could never be caught again. That there was no way that TNG would ever be able to live up to their predecessors of TOS. Well, they most certainly did catch that "lightning in a bottle" again, it just took a little bit of time. You see the crew grow and eventually become a family. One thing that I love about the TNG cast is that they are all good friends in real life, they hang out and see each other outside of work. Shatner famously had issues with some of the supporting cast members and they with him (Takei, Nichols, Koenig for example), but the TNG cast really do love each other.
8. Prior to TNG, Brent Spiner was best known for a recurring role on the sitcom "Night Court." Spiner and John de Lancie both guest-starred in “Dead Run,” a 1986 episode of the superb but now largely forgotten ’80s revival of "The Twilight Zone." Reading the “Farpoint” script convinced Spiner that he was interested in pursuing the part of Data. His makeup tests for the role included bubblegum pink and battleship gray colors before the choice of the opalescent gold skin now familiar to viewers. Watching TNG primarily on a black-and-white TV as a kid, it was a couple of years before I realized that Data’s eyes were yellow. Actor Eric Menyuk, the first runner-up for the role of Data, was cast as the Traveler in “Where No One Has Gone Before” as a consolation prize. Other candidates for Data included Mark Lindsay Chapman (later best known for the "Swamp Thing" TV series), Robert Englund ("A Nightmare on Elm Street"), Kevin Peter Hall ("Predator"), John Lone ("The Last Emperor"), Kim Miyori ("St. Elsewhere"), and Kelvin Han Yee ("A Great Wall"). Hall, who was 7 feet 2 inches tall, died in April 1991, during Season 4 of TNG - not from medical issues due to his height, but from AIDS-related pneumonia, having contracted HIV from a blood transfusion. (Kim Miyori is a woman, in case you were wondering.)
Patrick Stewart recently released a memoir and in it he said that he knew he could not surpass William Shatner's delivery of intro "Space the final frontier..." so he listened to William Shatner's delivery a lot so that he could then copy his delivery since Shatner did it so perfectly. Also the music for the intro is actual the theme from The Motion Picture.
Having been born in 1957, I grew up with the original Star Trek and watched it over and over when the reruns went into syndication. I was excited when Star Trek: The Motion Picture came out and was excited when The Next Generation hit our TVs. I loved every season of TNG, and it's only with re-watching that I can tell that Season 1 is definitely of a different quality than subsequent seasons. When I was watching Season 1 for the first time, there was definitely a glow to finally having a new Star Trek show.
Just wanna say I love your persistent use of "rec room". That's a very rare old school Trek fan quirk and you gents came by it organically in 2023. Beautiful
TNG premiered when I was 9 and I was super excited for it. I know a lot of people didn't like Wesley, but his character was very true-to-life for 1987, because nerdy kids like me were familiar and comfortable with computers in a way that our parents weren't because we'd used them in school. So it seemed perfectly natural that Wesley was able to sit down in Picard's chair and instantly figure out how everything worked.
The show gets even better as it goes along too! As time goes on, you can tell they get so much more comfortable with their characters, and the fact that they ALL actually become close friends in REAL LIFE as they spend more time making the show helps to add to the way they play off each other. They're all still close friends and apparently get together as much as they can.
Your comment about the similarities between Riker/Troi and Decker/Illyia is absolutely spot on. During the 70s there was a proposed Star Trek TV show that got pretty deep into production (to the point of casting and sets being built) that focused round a new crew, with Decker being the new captain of the original Enterprise. A lot of the scripts used in the first couple of seasons of TNG were scripts originally written for that cancelled series, with some modifications of course.
Seasons 1 and 2 are rough to say the least, but they have their good episodes like any show. And I bet you will find things to enjoy in these seasons, considering you typically do for the less-liked episodes.
Wow, this episode really crammed a lot in. Picard's stance on children, Geordie's visor, Q, Riker and Troi's history, the holodeck.... it's amazing they managed any plot at all, let alone "philosophical defense of the human condition"
I grew up on TNG. I discovered it mid way through season one and frankly. I have seen EVERY episode multiple times. I still watch episodes on Paramount and Pluto still
I grew up watching TOS reruns with my Dad on Sundays, and I still remember both of us being so excited for this new Star Trek: TNG! I still remember us sitting in front of the TV watching this first episode together.
It's interesting that you know Frakes from that show first because Leonard Nimoy also did an anthology series for 146 episodes of "In Search Of" after his run in Star Trek (Shatner of course had found it necessary to do one himself as he seems to compete with most things Nimoy did after TOS) including Ancient Mysteries.
@@rachelpsmith3129 I own the entire series on DVD, and still enjoy watching it (Yes, I watched it back in the 1970s). Fun fact - The actor who played Spock in the Abrahm's movies took over hosting duties for a reboot of the series (included in the DVD set). There was also a funny car commercial where the two Spocks interacted with one another.
Great reaction. Your anticipation for the show was similar to mine when TNG premiered. I grew up watching TOS, but enjoyed this show immediately including this season. PS: Your reaction to McCoy was priceless. They did not mention him in commercials to my knowledge, so viewers were shocked like you were at the time.
“Butterfly in the sky, I can fly twice as hi-igh, Take a look, it’s in a book. The Reading Rainbow” Geordi LaForge rocks Season 1 is very Gene Roddenberry still. Then he dies and the show becomes itself more. But Gene laid incredible groundwork. I heard an interview with Patrick Stewart where he talks with Gene before the show began about what the character of Jean-Luc Picard is, he said Gene just handed him a stack of Horatio Hornblower books and told him to read up.
4. Picard’s first entrance is especially grand and theatrical as he steps forward into the spotlight. (By contrast, Kirk’s first appearance in “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” his first TOS episode in production and chronological order, has the camera “discover” him playing 3D chess with Spock.) In the decades since his casting as Jean-Luc Picard, Sir Patrick Stewart has become an icon of both high culture and pop culture on both sides of the Atlantic. Something most people know about him, even if they have only seen him in Star Trek and/or the "X-Men" movies, is that he is one of the world’s leading Shakespearean actors. Stewart himself has said that prior to TNG he was best known in the Shakespearean world for his low comedy roles, and that it was his TNG exposure that granted him the opportunity to play dramatic leading roles in Shakespeare. However, this is something of an oversimplification: Stewart had already played Claudius, Hamlet’s uncle, in the "BBC Shakespeare," a prestigious project in which the BBC televised every single one of Shakespeare’s plays. Stewart’s performance received extremely positive reviews, with critics saying that the audience came to sympathize primarily with Claudius, even though he is the villain of the story. Stewart’s research for the role of Picard consisted of repeatedly reading the “Farpoint” script. Despite having appeared in the BBC Shakespeare, the David Lynch version of "Dune" and various other films and TV shows, Stewart felt that he had limited experience with screen as opposed to stage acting. For this reason, he attended the first day of shooting on “Farpoint” (the location scene on the Holodeck), even though he did not appear in the scene, to observe the production process.
Patrick Stewart’s first major tv role was in 1976 as the baddie Sejanus in the BBC miniseries I, Claudius, widely considered to be one of the greatest miniseries ever made. He is terrific in the part!
I'm glad to see you guys start TNG. As someone that grew up in the 80's and was brought up on and loved TOS, it's nice to see people that ended up loving TOS as much as you going into TNG with such excitement. It mirrors what I felt at the time. It was so great to have a Star Trek TV show again and I loved it. At the end of the day I'm a TOS guy to my core, and it will always be my favorite, but loved watching TNG. As a lot of comments have said, yes, the first season (and 2nd season really) was a bit rough, but as someone that watched the show as it came out, I didn't realize it until I looked back on the series, I just knew it was Star Trek and I was having a blast watching it. I'm so glad I found your channel and to see you guys fall in love with Star Trek and basically are now at the point I was when TNG was released, I'm happy to see your Journey. Have fun, It's going to be an interesting ride.
as someone who grew up on repeats of TOS, I have to tell you... ALL of us geeks were about ready pee our pants with excitement when TNG was getting ready to come out. we COULD NOT WAIT!!
The scene with Dr. McCoy was a big secret especially for this premiere episode. In fact, it was shot in such a way that - had word of DeForest Kelley's appearance gotten leaked prior to the show being broadcast - it could be cut entirely with no effect on the plot of the episode. The Ferengi were mentioned in this episode as a tease for what was supposed to become the Federation's new 'major adversary,' much as the Klingons were during the TOS era. Gene Roddenberry had intended to stay away from original series alien races as much as possible - with the exception of Worf representing the new era of the Klingon Empire - thus the directive was, "No Klingons, no Romulans, and especially no Vulcans!" It wasn't until the series started to settle into its own production that Roddenberry relaxed the 'No Original Series Aliens' rule. The Ferengi would eventually come into their own in the sequel series Deep Space Nine. You were quick to pick up on the Riker/Troi dynamic being so similar to the Decker/Ilia characters in TMP. TNG took a lot of what was originally developed for Phase II - the Captain/First Officer dynamic, Riker and Troi's relationship - and was transferred entirely into this new series. In fact, in later season, some of the scripts originally written for Phase II were revised and used for TNG. You were also pretty quick to compare Q to Trelane, the Squire of Gothos. While never confirmed in canon, it has been accepted by the fandom that Trelane was actually an immature member of the Q Continuum, and some of the non-canon novels make reference to that theory.
5:45 can’t wait to see the reactions to not only the difference between the characters and how they handle things, but also what I think is the way Roddenberry wanted Star Trek to be all along. I remember talking with my older brother about how episodes would be as a TOS episode but we gave that up because it’s soo different in a good way. 13:05 oh this is gonna be fun to see the journey for these two.
You've finally made it! I was lucky enough to watch TNG in its entirety when it originally aired, way back when I just a kid. The observation from one of your Patreon members is correct; the later seasons are so good, they make the first two look terrible by comparison. Someday, you're going to look back at this episode and laugh. There were a lot of problems with Season 1; Gene Roddenberry's health was declining, the writing staff had a high turnover rate, and no one was sure how successful this was going to be. Patrick Stewart auditioned 3 times (once for Data, twice for Picard), but didn't know how well he'd fare in his transition from his Shakespearean theater work to television sci-fi. His agent actually told him the show would fail, so he basically took the role for the paycheck. Roddenberry didn't even want him as Picard, but the others on the production staff ended up being instrumental in Stewart being hired. His initially stern nature as Picard wasn't entirely for show; he took himself far too seriously and berated the rest of the cast for goofing off between takes. He lightened up considerably later on, though. That can be said for all of the cast, too. As you've noticed, everyone seems so stiff and formal. This isn't just because these characters are meeting each other for the first time, but because the actors themselves haven't settled into and fleshed out their characters. One of the best aspects of TNG is that you get to see these people - both the actors and characters - gradually, genuinely develop from coworkers into a family over 7 seasons. Their relationships in real life reflect their relationships onscreen. And yes, although TNG is mostly episodic, there's actually a lot of continuity if you keep your eyes sharp. And as for Q... Well, you'll see.
When this series premiered we were chomping at the bit. It had been announced early in the year that the new show was airing in the fall. We couldn’t wait.
As a life long TOS fan❤. I was definitely primed for Star Trek to be back on TV. Came to really like TNG. It took awhile. Don't want to say much. Most all your questions will be answered with more shows.
I am NOT the biggest TNG fan in the world...but I'm going to go on this journey with you!! I tried to watch the show during my university days, but as you might expect, school got in the way a lot. Good thing TV wasn't arc-driven in those days. Looking forward to your hearing analyses and opinions.
They built the TNG sets right over the top of the Motion Picture sets. The Battle bridge is the TMP-TVH bridge redressed for TNG. The Corridor sets, Transporter Room, Engineering, Sickbay, all TMP sets converted. Even Kirk's Quarters becomes the crew quarters (without windows). The Bridge set and alter sets were the really new ones without any base built over them. Star Trek V and Star Trek VI ended up having to redress the TNG sets for their own use.
As I've heard, the pilot was originally just the Farpoint station story, written mostly by DC Fontana, but Paramount decided they wanted a movie-size first episode, so Roddenberry put together the business with Q to pad it out (Roddenberry loves him some godlike beings). A little disconnected, but very important to later episodes.
I was 11 when this came out, but had been a Trekkie since I was about 4 (2 older brothers were also into ST & got me hooked). I had no animosity about a new crew or ship, quite the opposite actually. And it's not like this was a reboot or anything like that, but a continuation of the original series. As for Deforest Kelly's cameo, IIRC there was nothing about it in any of the promos for the show. I was geeking out when I saw him too. The first actual promo I saw for TNG was when we rented Star Trek IV the Voyage Home after it came out on video, and they had a trailer for it on there. They also had marketing promos with with Cheerios & a toy line done by Galoob. The Cheerios promo offered a poster of the Enterprise (like the painting in Picard's ready room) for a certain number of UPCs from the cereal boxes. I had the poster throughout high school but it got lost sometime after that. As for the uniforms, apparently the enitre cast HATED them. They were I believe similar to spandex and so you'd have to watch what you eat because these would show everything. Because the bottom of the pants hooked under their boots to stretch the uniform, it was also a PITA for bathroom breaks.
8:24 Something you might not know about Michael Bell is that he's a prolific voice actor, having starred in a lot of 80s and 90s cartoons like Transformers, GI Joe, Pryde of the X-Men and Rugrats. This episode is one of his rare on camera roles.
This was probably, not counting maybe Casey Kasem, the earliest memory of seeing a VO performer whom I would instantly recognize the voice in something live action.
He voiced the main male character in Hanna-Barbera's animated _Lost in Space_ pilot. The only connection between the classic show and this failed cartoon was the Doctor Smith character, once again played by Jonathan Harris.
12:35 I always loved that loud and triumphant fanfare when the replacement guys walk onto the bridge to take over. :D No reason for it, really, but they went with it.
I remember being apprehensive when TNG was first announced. I learned of it from a TV Guide profile and figure I must have been the youngest fan in America to say "How can you gave Star Trek without Kirk and Spock?" I was not quite 6 at the time. While it takes TNG a while to fully hit its stride there are several excellent first season episodes you should enjoy. I hope you come to love these characters as much as we do.
I had seen some TOS as a kid, but I grew up watching TNG every week with my dad. I was shocked to find out that the TNG theme was repurposed from TMP. Deanna Troi is the classic “state the obvious” type of empath.
Everybody said Troi was such a hot babe! I always thought she was very creepy! And _rude_ with the way she always told everyone in the room what people's private feelings were! 😒
Her telling on people's feelings was the whole point of her being there, lol. And they were obviously using her as the babe factor since she was the one with the big 80s hair and accentuating uniforms. For me, at the time, I just thought the idea of a starship captain having this "counsellor" literally at his side on the bridge telling him "they're hiding something" was ridiculous. And then Riker sat there repeating Picard's orders and going on the mission because it was too risky for the captain to go. It really made me miss Kirk and TOS all the more.
As a nineties kid, the anticipation for new episodes of TNG were the equivalent of people waiting a week on streaming services nowadays. With reruns of TOS filling the time between seasons. =)
To most fans the Holodeck is known as the Holodeck, but you guys refered to it as the Rec-Room. That shows that you are one of the few fans who have seen the animated series. Thats cool!
Patrick Stewart has such gravitas. From the moment he starts the speech at the very beginning: "Space... the final frontier..." I get chills. He's simply my favorite. ❤
TOS and TNG are my two favorite series of the bunch. Which isn't to say that it's the one you guys will love the most (though, we've already established you guys love TOS). I know there will be DS9ers, maybe the occasional Voyager fans, maybe some Enterprise fans coming out to defend their corner of the Trekdom and I don't want to poopoo their choices, but the aforementioned two are mine. If I had to predict, I think you guys will, by the end, love DS9 and TOS the most. In the meantime, I can't wait for these episodes to drop!
@@dr.juerdotitsgo5119 And I totally agree with you, but half the equation is already set, right, they do love TOS. But, I think the reason they will also love DS9 is b/c it's got a more current story telling sensibility? I could be jumping to conclusions here, but I know at least Alex has seen Breaking Bad and I want to say they've brought up other series where the stories are more serialized and less episodic and I think that's where their love for Trek and the more recent (but not really recent) trend of serialized story telling vs episodic story telling will meet. And DS9 did a phenomenal job of giving every character their time in the sun.
The "occasional" Voyager fan? Voyager gets the most views of any Trek show for Netflix. It appeals most ro casual viewers. It's the hardcore Trekkies on the interwebs that complain about it😂
@@webstersempireProbably b/c most are watching it on Paramount? Honestly, if you did a survey of which franchise is the most popular, I'd bet TNG or DS9 gets the most votes. As an aside, as much as I love TOS, there's too much of gap between it and the rest of the series to stand much of a chance I would guess. TNG was the only one after TOS to get its own movie franchise then a sequel series in Picard.
@@Vulcanerd good comments. TOS & TNG are certainly the most popular to this day. DS9 is one of those shows that has a smaller but very loud following. DS9 fans won't miss an opportunity to tell ya it's the best show. But Voyager is the most watched on the world's largest streaming service, because it holds up very well.
@@dr.juerdotitsgo5119 I am in this camp and I think it is precisely because they are so opposite. They compliment each other and thus provide nearly a full spectrum of ST experience on their own.
I have been SO LOOKING FORWARD to your reaction... I knew you'd enjoy it. Someone in another comment said what I was thinking: I grew up in the early 70s watching the original series in reruns, and then getting the four original series movies... NEXT GENERATION was the first TREK that I watched on TV episode by episode as each new episode aired. Your reaction reminds me that at the beginning of the series, I was fine with it. Later in the series the characters grow more relaxed, nuanced, more fleshed out, less stiff, etc, but for these early episodes, all of those qualities never felt wrong or off because they were not only new to viewers, but in the universe of the stories, new to the ship and new to each other. As always, it's fun to see you pick up things I'd forgotten. Thanks!
The theme was from one of the original movies by the way! The security chief was played by Denise Crosby, granddaughter of Bing Crosby. That Wesley kid was somewhat of a joke in some circles. The latest show Picard has some references to this show too. The first season of TNG was written during a writer's strike so some of the shows are retreads of the TOS.
Some of them? They couldn't have waited until they had actual writers to write the episodes before starting up the show? Honestly, if you had given a parrot Ambien and recorded it talking in its sleep you would have gotten better episodes!
So, I am from the gen that grew watching him as Picard. You refer to him, here, as a 'young man'. He always seemed old to me, in that he was older then my father.
I'm so excited that you've finally started TNG, glad you enjoyed this pilot episode. The first couple of seasons get a lot of stick - I don't think they're quite as bad as some people make out but it definitely does find its feet later on.
You are not the first person to say Q is like Trilane. In fact John Delancey knew about Trilane and used him as an influence for his acting. There is even a novel where they say Q is the father of Trilane. That means Q was one of the parent voices who took Trilane home at the end of Squire of Gothos!
Saw TNG when it originally aired in the 80’s and multiple times since then, but glad to catch your reaction at episode 1 and follow you guys on this journey. Love the discussions before and after the reaction as well.
I don't remember too much of the advertising before TNG debuted but what I do recall (including the preview on the Voyage Home VHS tape that came out just that week), there was no mention of the TOS cameo.
5. According to the Memory Alpha wiki, other candidates for the role of Jean-Luc Picard included Stephen Macht ("Cagney & Lacey"; the first runner-up), James Earl Jones (who needs no introduction), Billy Dee Williams (ditto), Don Ameche ("Trading Places," "Cocoon"), Patrick Bauchau ("A View to a Kill"), Theodore Bikel (star of "Fiddler on the Roof" on Broadway; guest-starred in "The Twilight Zone": “Four O’Clock”), Avery Brooks ("Spenser: For Hire"), William Devane ("Knots Landing"), Peter Donat ("The Godfather Part II"), Andrew Duggan ("The Homecoming: A Christmas Story"), Keir Dullea ("2001: A Space Odyssey"), Dana Elcar ("MacGyver"), James Gammon (best known for "Major League," released in 1989), Paul Gleason ("The Breakfast Club"), Scott Glenn ("The Right Stuff"), Peter Michael Goetz ("Jumpin’ Jack Flash"), Louis Gossett Jr. ("Roots," "An Officer and a Gentleman"), George Grizzard ("The Twilight Zone": “The Chaser” and “In His Image”), Moses Gunn ("Little House on the Prairie"), Fred Gwynne ("The Munsters"), George Hearn (primarily a Broadway actor), Thomas Hill ("The NeverEnding Story"), John Hillerman ("Magnum, P.I."), Robert Hogan (many TV guest appearances, including "The Twilight Zone": “Spur of the Moment”), Barrie Ingham ("The Great Mouse Detective"; guest-starred in "Doctor Who": “The Myth Makers,” now a lost story), Yaphet Kotto ("Live and Let Die," "Alien"), John McMartin ("Sweet Charity"), Edward Mulhare ("The Ghost & Mrs. Muir"; guest-starred in "Battlestar Galactica": “Experiment in Terra”), Edward James Olmos ("Miami Vice"), James Olson ("Rachel, Rachel"), Anthony Quayle ("Lawrence of Arabia"), Mitchell Ryan ("Lethal Weapon"), Telly Savalas ("Kojak"; guest-starred in "The Twilight Zone": “Living Doll”), John Saxon ("A Nightmare on Elm Street" and Roddenberry’s unsold pilot "Planet Earth"), Dick Shawn ("The Producers"), Roy Thinnes ("The Invaders"; guest-starred in "Battlestar Galactica": “Gun on Ice Planet Zero”), Rip Torn ("Cross Creek"), Lee Van Cleef ("For a Few Dollars More," "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly"; guest-starred in "The Twilight Zone": “The Grave”), and Noble Willingham ("Good Morning, Vietnam"). In 1987, when production of TNG began, these actors ranged in age from 39 (Brooks) to 79 (Ameche). Bauchau, born in Belgium, was the only one from the Francosphere. Patrick Stewart was among the youngest of them; only Brooks, Olmos, Macht, Goetz and (possibly) Glenn were younger (according to Wikipedia, sources differ on Glenn’s year of birth). Stewart was 47 years old in 1987, only three years older than I am now, which makes me feel ancient; Alex and Josh referring to him as “young” during their reaction made me feel better about myself (although, of course, they meant “young” in comparison to when he played Charles Xavier). According to the chronology Star Trek has established over the decades, Jean-Luc Picard is 59 during TNG Season 1; humans age more slowly in the 24th century. Dick Shawn died of a heart attack on stage during a comedy performance on April 17, 1987, the month before “Farpoint” began filming. Duggan, Quayle, Van Cleef, Gwynne, Ameche, and Gunn also died before TNG ended.
Hmmm... I've heard of Avery Brooks somewhere 😄 I would have loved to see either Yaphet Koto or Lee Van Cleef as a Starfleet captain! Thanks for sharing!
In the lead up to the premier of TNG, fans were made aware that ONE of the TOS cast was going to have a cameo in the pilot. But we were not told who, how or anything else about it. I remember checking out every background player looking for a familiar face. I even thought one of the Oriental characters in Q's court might be Takei.
Back in the 80s, I actually stopped watching the show into the first season. In season 3, I think, a friend put it on and I said, "that show sucks!" He goes, "No, it's gotten better," and from that point until the end I was hooked.
As far as Alex's aversion to 90 minute pilots go, remember that once commercials were added in this was a two hour event. And it wasnt just a week since the last movie, it was almost 20 year wait for a return to the Federation for most of us.
@@scottwells8064, there are some good episodes in Seasons 1 and 2. It’s oddly similar to manufacturing: if you have no process to make a part and rotate between a brilliant machinist versus someone fresh out of school, that’s what the first two seasons are like. Then, if you build a jig and coach everyone to do the same thing, that’s what Season 3 onward is like.
I'm Scandinavian, and growing up in the 80'ies, this show was my JAM! I watched it religiously, and it definitely helped shape my moral compass. It's a treat to get to watch along with a couple of first-time watchers, experiencing the show all over again through your eyes. Thanks for uploading these videos 🙂
When I was a kid, Leonard Nimoy hosted a show called In Search Of. It was similar to Beyond Belief. Each episode explored something like the Bermuda Triangle or UFO's. I used to watch it all the time and it makes me very nostalgic.
After you guys finish season 2 I highly recommend the documentary Chaos on the Bridge, it'll give some great insight for everything you'll have seen until that point
I was 13 in 1988 when the local FOX station did a marathon of the first season of TNG to the lead up for the second season. I spent that whole weekend glued to the tube, my life forever altered. Every Sunday and Wednesday at 6pm, I watched Star Trek: The Next Generation. Engage!
9. Gene Roddenberry was extremely reluctant to feature alien races from TOS, including Klingons, in TNG, wanting the new series to stand on its own with a new mythos. Former TOS producer Robert Justman, now Supervising Producer of TNG, urged Roddenberry to include a “Klingon marine” in the Enterprise crew, but Roddenberry was resistant to the idea. The way in which Lieutenant Worf finally became part of TNG is an unedifying story. When Roddenberry expanded D. C. Fontana’s 90-minute script into a two-hour TV movie, one of his additions, along with the Q storyline, was the separation of the ship’s saucer and stardrive sections. Someone pointed out to Roddenberry that it would be necessary to leave one of the female characters - either Troi or Tasha - in command of the saucer while the stardrive turned to confront Q. *In Roddenberry’s very next draft,* Worf suddenly existed and took command of the saucer. An important and compelling character thus owed his presence on TNG to Roddenberry’s sexism. Michael Dorn successfully auditioned for the role of Worf while the filming of “Farpoint” was already underway; he was absent from the first TNG cast portrait. The original intention was that Worf would be only a recurring character, but the producers saw the character’s potential, and Dorn signed on as a member of the regular cast (and thus appears in the episode’s opening credits). Michael Dorn is African American, something my mother was surprised and delighted to learn when she saw him on a TV talk show after she had already watched TNG for a couple of years. The casting notes for Worf sent to agents specifically requested Black actors to save time on the makeup process every morning. James Avery (who later played Uncle Phil on "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air") and James Louis Watkins (later known as Julian Christopher) were the other two finalists for the role of Worf; Watkins would play Hagon in “Code of Honor” shortly thereafter.
One thing that I noticed when it first aired: the Scant (skirted) variant of the uniform was also worn by Male crew members (I counted 9 scenes where one appeared); it's a cool thing that uniform designs weren't dependent on gender in this era...
Something that is very interesting and not many people catch it - in the very first episode of Star Trek TOS, they played the shows theme song during the incredible never-before seen “Warp Speed” jump. In TNG, they did the same thing in the first episode - they played the theme song during the incredible never-before seen “Saucer Separation” sequence.
Data origins start from a TV pilot Gene made in the 70's for a series that wasn't picked up called The Questor Tapes. It's main character was an android (one of a long series built by an alien race in order to watch over humanity (borrowing elements from Gary Seven)). Though human in appearance, due to a mishap, he, like Data, did not have emotions. They even borrowed a couple bits from this pilot, and gave them to Data. At one point, the idea that Data was the latest in this series of androids was considered, but was later dropped.
I was sitting on pins and needles for weeks waiting for TNG to debut, and I was horrified when it did lol I was convinced it would be canceled after the first season, luckily it really didn't have any sci-fi competition at the time, then really found its legs in the third season and turned into a juggernaut
Note: Some claim that no one uses money in the future... but Dr. Crusher has them charge her ship account for the purchase! Somebody is using money in the first episode.
I’m glad you’re here now but I really can’t wait until you get to Deep Space Nine. And you guys are spot on about Trelaine / Q. It was retconned in an official novel that they are the same species. Also hopefully one day you’ll get a chance to do the 2000,s Battlestar Galactica as well.
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since you guys are so rigid in your release order, will you adhere to that and alternate with DS9 when they ran concurrently?
@BiggestDawgEver that's their plan, yeh
Please keep in mind the setting (the in universe era they are living in at the time) Kirk had a role similar to Lewis and Clark so galactic laws agreements were still being made, Picard lives in a era were the Laws are already stablished and for the other Captains?!... Well we need to get there!!
"It`s easy being a saint in paradise!
Cap. XXXXXXX
People were enraged when this first came out, but they quickly came around once they experienced this AMAZING tv show.
A bit of info on the actress that is Lt.Yar she is Denise Crosby and is Bing Crosby’s granddaughter
I’m sure you’ve heard this already, but PLEASE don’t judge the entire series based on what’s coming in season 1. It gets SO much better over time!
AGREED - the Third season onward, is where TNG REALLY comes into its own.
beat me to it! was coming here to say this. It gets SOOO much better
There are some in the first that are better than TOS, sure it gets better, but there's plenty to love.
but.............TASHA YAR
oh, my.
@@delphinazizumbo8674 🤫
Since you like the Enterprise Computer in the hallways so much:
Remember that during this time there were no touchscreens, and flatscreens were insanely expensive. So all the computer displays are not actual computer graphics. Every design, every graphic on those screens is handmade by Michael Okuda, a designer who worked on all the shows from TNG onwards (and some of the movies). They are custom made panels that are backlit. They were cheap to make but they had to custom design all of them. The user interface design that he created in this style remained a constant and kind of the Star Trek computer operating system of this era. Michael Okuda and his wife were some of the most important people for the design of Star Trek of this era.
Nowadays you can simply create this sort of screen with an actual funtional touch-display. not back then. It was all hand-made.
And the graphics on the computer screens are called "Okudagrams" in the real world.
@@walkir2662 LCARS in universe. Library Computer Access/Retrieval System.
It's impossible for any post Gen X individual to understand that all that production design of TNG influenced nearly every aspect of modern consumer electronics including how operating systems function via things like various interfaces. These things like tablets, smart phones, hands free communication devices, NONE of it existed in any way a vast majority of consumers could get their hands on at that time.
@@miguelvelez7221 It's so common but so cool to see real-world technology follow ideas from science fiction.
@@miguelvelez7221Oh yes! since we are talking about that scene, don't forget how they also normalized women checking out their bosses butt while they walk away, because lycra onesies with no pockets were considered a military uniform.
Classy, right?
The cameo with Bones is so sweet .... I almost always shed a tear 🤩
Greetings young fellas, I am glad you enjoyed the first episode of TNG. As a 63 year old Star Trek/Wars NERD, when TNG first came out I tried really hard NOT to like it because in my mind at the time NO ONE could replace Kirk, Spock et' al. But after a few episodes I began to realize they were not REPLACING TOS they were building the universe. I grew to LOVE TNG and the rest of Star Trek as a whole universe.
Live long and prosper, young fellas.🖖
Hi. I, too, am 63 and have been watching Star Trek most of my life. I remember watching it during its original run, but it wasn't until it went syndicated that I really got into it.
As for Star Wars, I'm sure you're like me and remember when the first movie was just "Star Wars", not "Episode IV: A New Hope" and watched it on a WIDE screen, and possibly at a drive-in!
@@martinboyle9163 100% agree. The _original_ 1977 version is the best and Han DID shoot first (not even sure Greedo shot at all).
1. First, I have a request: For the sake of avoiding spoilers, could everyone please refrain from mentioning whether any non-regular cast members in this episode reappear in later episodes? I think this would go miles towards enhancing the guys’ enjoyment. Thanks!
Comments are gonna definitely spoil some stuff (heck, thumbnails on paramount spoil stuff 😤).
But I agree wholeheartedly with ya! Be way more fun if the fellas get slapped with...well, surprises, of course. 🖖
They won't remember even if someone does. They often forget things.
But yes, generally, avoiding saying anything specific about future stuff.
Well said, Chief, we don't want them to suffer, over and over again.
I had a friend in 9th grade freaking spoiler Spock in Wrath of Khan for me, I have still not forgiven that child. People who spoiler just need to know, there's a special hell.
@@angelainamarie9656 To be fair The Great Bird also talked a lot about that one before the film. Everyone knew before watching it on release. That's why the fake out at the start works, we knew it would happen, but we weren't prepared for it twice.
22:45 "Maybe in the future, the glass is so strong..." But it's not glass, it's transparent aluminum!
And you're right, Data is not Spock...he's Xon. (Xon was a full-Vulcan character written for _Star Trek Phase II_ who had never worked with humans before, and is having to learn on the fly how to interact with such emotional beings.)
I went to a Trek Convention in England in 1987. We saw the whole of Season 1 in 3 and a half days. To cap it off, Patrick Stewart turned up on the Monday.
We were already blown away by what we had just seen, a whole 10 months before it aired on BBC1. Patrick was treated like the 2nd Coming. It was amazing!
You boys are in for one hell of a ride. Enjoy!
This episode may be in my bottom tier of TNG episodes, but Bones telling Data, “You treat her like a lady … and she’ll always bring you home,” is one of my favorite moments in the whole franchise.
Ah, so you weren't further dismayed that they had to get characters from other series to vouch for it, to actually come onto the show itself to vouch for it?
Didn't that seem like they knew it wasn't good enough to stand on its own two feet? 🤮
@@TheNoiseySpectator Maybe if it was a reoccurring event for members of the old cast to show up and tell the new crew are awesome they were and how amazing this new Enterprise is I would agree. But one quick cameo in the pilot felt more like “old Star Trek” christening the Enterprise-D and sending the new crew on their way.
I feel that that complaint probably surfaced a LOT later. I know this is anecdotal, but I don't recall anyone of my friends or family who watched TNG and didn't like that cameo. However, it's important to realise three things:
1. The internet as we know it didn't exist yet. There was no giant echo chambre for people to discuss shows. Other than talking with your friends or coworkers, you needed to actually go to a con to discuss things and cons were generally small and positive.
2. Not only were there no other Star Trek shows to compare TNG to, most people only had vague (but positive) memories of the original series. There was no streaming TV, no blurays or VHS tapes of the show, no bootleg downloads. If TOS wasn't playing in reruns in your area, you hadn't seen it since the original run.
3. Crossovers, cameos, and stunt casting were super common across all genres of TV in this period. Having someone from TOS guest star on TNG was nothing. We're lucky they didn't use the holodeck to have a Harlem Globetrotters episode.@@TheNoiseySpectator
PBU DeForest Kelley, and the irascible country doctor he portrayed, who traveled among the stars, romanced a queen, and plied his trade among dozens of worlds and nonhuman races.
As a college age Trekkie when this first aired, let me confirm some things:
The Kelley cameo was not part of the promotion, it was a complete surprise.
The Star casting at the time were LeVar Burton, well regarded for his role from Roots, and Will Wheaton, who was fresh off the hit movie Stand By Me.
Deanna Troi was not well regarded from the pilot performance alone, and Jonathan Frakes was dismissed as a pretty face.
DC Fontana wrote the Farpoint mystery, then Roddenberry added the Q story. Dorothy was mot happy with that.
Some trivia: John DeLancie was fresh off of Days of our Lives, from which he played a love interest to Arleen Sorkin. She would go on to land her most famous role, the voice of Harley Quinn on Batman TAS.
If you've never seen the movie "Toy Soldiers", I recommend it. Will Wheaton was in that movie, and while I don't drop any spoilers (in case you haven't seen it).... it's my favorite role of his.
Not only was Harley Quinn her most famous role but she was also the inspiration for the character
@@melanieszelong4664 True, I recently saw the clip of her dressed as a clown on Days of our Lives that Paul Dini said inspired him. Interesting, as her character Calliope was more an homage to Cyndi Lauper with her New Yawk accent and weird clothes. Wow, that takes me back, lol
DC Fontana wasn't just angry that Rodenberry added Q, she was angry that he got the top writing credit, and I think it impacted her fees too. Rodenberry did something similar with TOS; he wrote lyrics for the theme song never intending them to be sung; even though they were never performed, it entitled him to one half the performance royalties for the music because it made him a co-composer, taking the money out of Alexander Courage's pocket.
Glad to be the champagne bottle breaking on the bow of the new addition to these reacts.
Small trivia that you may have heard but just in case: the ceiling of the Enterprise-D transporter was actually the floor of the TOS Enterprise's transporter.
D'oh! I just saw your comment after posting the same piece of trivia. 🤦♂️ I'm glad to know I wasn't the only one impressed by that!
I see what you did there
When this first aired, one newspaper TV critic that I followed mentioned that the creators of ST:TNG imagined a future so litigious that every starship has a lawyer on board.
After I watched the episode, I realized that the critic misunderstood the role of "Counselor" Troi.
The good old days when a season was more than 6-10 episodes AND there was a season every year instead of every 2-3 years!
Not to mention: Acting like they were professional Starfleet Officers and not crying through an episode like some other characters
@@AnthyrionIndeed. I can't even believe anyone would go on a deep space mission with a crew full of non stop whingers.
I think we all prefer we'll written short season rather than bloated 25 episodes where like 10 or more are absolute dog shit
@@koki84ji7 well right now all we're getting is the 10 episodes that are dog shit. 😆
@@koki84ji7 i agree, but i 6-10 episodes is too short for star trek. i think around 13-15 strikes a happy medium
Corey Allen directed TNG’s pilot “Encounter at Farpoint.” Corey was my acting teacher in film school way back in 1997. Corey also acted in “Rebel Without a Cause.” He played the gang leader Buzz who had the famous knife fight with James Dean. Corey was one of the nicest people I’ve ever met in Hollywood. RIP.
I was born in 1980 so this is the Star Trek I grew up on, then I watched the original series after. I'm so happy that you guys reacted to any Star Trek at all, it is such a heartwarming TV show that I think enriches all who love it. Thank you for all your hard work and patience! 🖖
"Pain..... terrible...pain...."
The best captain ever is in your future Voyage!❤️
88 for me, but for some reason, the original films are the most nostalgic for me, the undiscovered country, if definitely in my top 3 out of all the movies
I was also born in the early 80s, so I also grew up with TNG, but my mom and dad were both Star Trek fans, so the original series was also present. I'm sure I saw TNG first, but I think they used to play TOS reruns on KWNG Denver when I was growing up so I believe I grew up with both kind of simultaneously.
16. LeVar Burton was the best-known member of TNG’s cast to American audiences in 1987 and was emphasized in early news stories about the show’s production. He first achieved prominence in the 1977 TV miniseries "Roots," hosting the PBS children’s series "Reading Rainbow" from 1983 onwards. Years later, when Burton appeared on Stephen Colbert’s talk show, Colbert gave a description of him which I found screamingly funny, even if it was slightly politically incorrect. I wish I could quote it exactly, but it was something to the effect of, “We saw him overcome slavery, achieve literacy, and graduate first in his class from Starfleet Academy.”
Actor Tim Russ ("The Twilight Zone": “Kentucky Rye” and “Voices in the Earth”) was the first runner-up for the role of Geordi La Forge. Other candidates included Clarence Gilyard ("Matlock"), Kevin Peter Hall (also considered for Data), Reggie Jackson (yes, the baseball player!), Eriq La Salle (who went on to great success on the medical drama "ER"; he also guest-starred in “Memphis,” a 2003 episode of the *third* version of "The Twilight Zone"), Victor Love ("Native Son"), Chip McAllister ("The Greatest"), and Wesley Snipes (!!), who was then at the beginning of his career and, of course, went on to become a major star.
Riker beaming up to the Enterprise is not inherently a strong enough moment to justify its being an act break; its real significance is that the audience is seeing the TNG transporter effect for the first time, which would have carried great weight in 1987.
You two have the right attitude towards the first two seasons of TNG. As someone who watched it when it first came out, I enjoyed it. Sure some episodes are weak and the actors take a while to figure out their characters but if you consider when it was made and that this is only the 2nd Star Trek show ever you will find a lot to enjoy here. Most people complaining about these seasons are comparing it to just about every Trek show and movie ever made. By watching Trek in chronological order I think you'll be able to appreciate TNG just like I did when it first came out. Have fun!
Welcome to the 24th Century 🎉🎉🎉🎉
It’s hard to explain what it was like growing up a classic Trek fan (from 70s reruns and seeing the movies as they came out) to sit down with my best friend and fellow Trekker in front of a TV the night TNG premiered.
I so remember having video taped the promo for this and playing it over and over for weeks before the actual broadcast.
Pretty much the same story for my friends and myself the night it aired & the episodes that followed.
Same here, I was in a room with a half dozen other nerds the night it first aired, and we were all super excited. We were a bit underwhelmed because the first episode just isn't that great, and Patrick Stewart wasn't then the legend he is now. Nevertheless it became a weekly addiction which paid off as it got (much) better over time.
Same experience here. Kind of anti climatic. Awful story.
I saw it on reruns, when young. And was only two years old, when it first debuted. But I soon got drawn in.
And the movies, too. In fact, I hardly saw much of TOS, til later.
They actually kept the Bones cameo a secret surprise, and didn't even mention the character name on the show.
"In the 24th Century; there will be no hunger, there will be no greed, and all the children will know how to read." - Gene Roddenberry.
It's kicking off. It's kicking off! The NEXT Generation.
Here we are gentlemen.
"Welcome to the 24th Century."
I watched the premiere with friends back in '87 and we were all thrilled. The fact that Roddenberry was in charge gave us hope. The biggest reaction from us was for McCoy's appearance and the saucer separation sequence. That was something that was mentioned in TOS and it was great to finally see it.
While the first couple of seasons has its share, maybe more than its share, of clunky episodes, there are some good ones. There's one that might appeal to your horror sensabilities. The first two seasons are like a shakedown cruise. It's where they find out what works and what doesn't. The characters and actors build their relationships and get confortable with each other. Some elements are dropped. Some are changed. Some might not reach their full potential until later Trek series. Some characters are moved around until they find where they're meant to be.
Roddenberry did put limitations on what kind of stories could be told and that may of hampered things in the early seasons when he was fully in charge. Some episodes are definitely cringeworthy. One, I thought, felt like an Afterschool Special. Another is notoriously bad and is the epitome of "hasn't aged well" . It's often cited as the worst TNG episode. Maybe the worst Trek episode ever. But, it was Star Trek on weekly TV where it was meant to be and real Trek fans were happy to tolerate its growing pains to be rewarded when it finally found its footing.
Well, which episode are you talking about?
The one where they all got infected with the space intoxication disease and got horny & a certain female character got her ticket punched by an android?
The one where they visited the planet of the Swedish sex people who punish every single crime with the death penalty and some magical space spaceship - angel won't them leave until a certain main character is executed?
Or, the one with the stereotypical Irish people running amok all over the ship?
I think the Worst one was where Troi's mother was going through Menopause - Horney disease and came aboard to try to Bed Picard, got all hot for a holodeck character, but in the end saved them from the goldfish people.
But, there were so many of them that could be considered 0 /100.
We just plain need you to be more specific. 🤷♂
@@TheNoiseySpectator I was actually trying not to give away any plots of upcoming episodes.
I remember reading about when TNG came out that people complained that TOS was "lightning in a bottle", that it was something special that could never be caught again. That there was no way that TNG would ever be able to live up to their predecessors of TOS. Well, they most certainly did catch that "lightning in a bottle" again, it just took a little bit of time. You see the crew grow and eventually become a family. One thing that I love about the TNG cast is that they are all good friends in real life, they hang out and see each other outside of work. Shatner famously had issues with some of the supporting cast members and they with him (Takei, Nichols, Koenig for example), but the TNG cast really do love each other.
8. Prior to TNG, Brent Spiner was best known for a recurring role on the sitcom "Night Court." Spiner and John de Lancie both guest-starred in “Dead Run,” a 1986 episode of the superb but now largely forgotten ’80s revival of "The Twilight Zone." Reading the “Farpoint” script convinced Spiner that he was interested in pursuing the part of Data. His makeup tests for the role included bubblegum pink and battleship gray colors before the choice of the opalescent gold skin now familiar to viewers. Watching TNG primarily on a black-and-white TV as a kid, it was a couple of years before I realized that Data’s eyes were yellow.
Actor Eric Menyuk, the first runner-up for the role of Data, was cast as the Traveler in “Where No One Has Gone Before” as a consolation prize. Other candidates for Data included Mark Lindsay Chapman (later best known for the "Swamp Thing" TV series), Robert Englund ("A Nightmare on Elm Street"), Kevin Peter Hall ("Predator"), John Lone ("The Last Emperor"), Kim Miyori ("St. Elsewhere"), and Kelvin Han Yee ("A Great Wall"). Hall, who was 7 feet 2 inches tall, died in April 1991, during Season 4 of TNG - not from medical issues due to his height, but from AIDS-related pneumonia, having contracted HIV from a blood transfusion.
(Kim Miyori is a woman, in case you were wondering.)
I forgot or didn't know when I wrote this post that Patrick Stewart also auditioned for Data!
@@anthonybernacchi2732: Patrick Stewart as Data, and Brent Spiner as Captain Picard?
Fun Fact, Spiner was offered the lead role in his own spin-off from Nightcourt for his character Bob Wheeler, He turned it down for TNG.
Although S1 is a bit rough TNG is incredible!!! Data, Picard and Worf are some of my favorite characters ever!
Patrick Stewart recently released a memoir and in it he said that he knew he could not surpass William Shatner's delivery of intro "Space the final frontier..." so he listened to William Shatner's delivery a lot so that he could then copy his delivery since Shatner did it so perfectly.
Also the music for the intro is actual the theme from The Motion Picture.
We're finally here. Love double dippin with the full uncut version on the patreon and then later the youtube version lol.
Best way to do it!
@@targetaudience agreed! Like having both the director's cut and theatrical cut
Having been born in 1957, I grew up with the original Star Trek and watched it over and over when the reruns went into syndication. I was excited when Star Trek: The Motion Picture came out and was excited when The Next Generation hit our TVs. I loved every season of TNG, and it's only with re-watching that I can tell that Season 1 is definitely of a different quality than subsequent seasons. When I was watching Season 1 for the first time, there was definitely a glow to finally having a new Star Trek show.
Just wanna say I love your persistent use of "rec room".
That's a very rare old school Trek fan quirk and you gents came by it organically in 2023.
Beautiful
TNG premiered when I was 9 and I was super excited for it. I know a lot of people didn't like Wesley, but his character was very true-to-life for 1987, because nerdy kids like me were familiar and comfortable with computers in a way that our parents weren't because we'd used them in school. So it seemed perfectly natural that Wesley was able to sit down in Picard's chair and instantly figure out how everything worked.
A bit of trivia: If I recall correctly, the overhead lights in the transporter chamber were the original transporter foot pads from TOS
The show gets even better as it goes along too! As time goes on, you can tell they get so much more comfortable with their characters, and the fact that they ALL actually become close friends in REAL LIFE as they spend more time making the show helps to add to the way they play off each other. They're all still close friends and apparently get together as much as they can.
Your comment about the similarities between Riker/Troi and Decker/Illyia is absolutely spot on.
During the 70s there was a proposed Star Trek TV show that got pretty deep into production (to the point of casting and sets being built) that focused round a new crew, with Decker being the new captain of the original Enterprise.
A lot of the scripts used in the first couple of seasons of TNG were scripts originally written for that cancelled series, with some modifications of course.
Seasons 1 and 2 are rough to say the least, but they have their good episodes like any show. And I bet you will find things to enjoy in these seasons, considering you typically do for the less-liked episodes.
Wow, this episode really crammed a lot in. Picard's stance on children, Geordie's visor, Q, Riker and Troi's history, the holodeck.... it's amazing they managed any plot at all, let alone "philosophical defense of the human condition"
I grew up on TNG. I discovered it mid way through season one and frankly. I have seen EVERY episode multiple times. I still watch episodes on Paramount and Pluto still
Might as well buy the blu ray, at this point.
I grew up watching TOS reruns with my Dad on Sundays, and I still remember both of us being so excited for this new Star Trek: TNG! I still remember us sitting in front of the TV watching this first episode together.
It's interesting that you know Frakes from that show first because Leonard Nimoy also did an anthology series for 146 episodes of "In Search Of" after his run in Star Trek (Shatner of course had found it necessary to do one himself as he seems to compete with most things Nimoy did after TOS) including Ancient Mysteries.
In Search Of was my jam, many years ago.
@@rachelpsmith3129 I own the entire series on DVD, and still enjoy watching it (Yes, I watched it back in the 1970s). Fun fact - The actor who played Spock in the Abrahm's movies took over hosting duties for a reboot of the series (included in the DVD set). There was also a funny car commercial where the two Spocks interacted with one another.
@@IggyStardust1967love the commercial with the 2 Spocks
Great reaction. Your anticipation for the show was similar to mine when TNG premiered. I grew up watching TOS, but enjoyed this show immediately including this season.
PS: Your reaction to McCoy was priceless. They did not mention him in commercials to my knowledge, so viewers were shocked like you were at the time.
There are some hidden gems in season one, and some classics in season two.
“Butterfly in the sky, I can fly twice as hi-igh,
Take a look, it’s in a book.
The Reading Rainbow”
Geordi LaForge rocks
Season 1 is very Gene Roddenberry still. Then he dies and the show becomes itself more. But Gene laid incredible groundwork. I heard an interview with Patrick Stewart where he talks with Gene before the show began about what the character of Jean-Luc Picard is, he said Gene just handed him a stack of Horatio Hornblower books and told him to read up.
I love this format! Back to an intro and episode discussion.. looking forward to watching TNG with you guys!
4. Picard’s first entrance is especially grand and theatrical as he steps forward into the spotlight. (By contrast, Kirk’s first appearance in “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” his first TOS episode in production and chronological order, has the camera “discover” him playing 3D chess with Spock.)
In the decades since his casting as Jean-Luc Picard, Sir Patrick Stewart has become an icon of both high culture and pop culture on both sides of the Atlantic. Something most people know about him, even if they have only seen him in Star Trek and/or the "X-Men" movies, is that he is one of the world’s leading Shakespearean actors. Stewart himself has said that prior to TNG he was best known in the Shakespearean world for his low comedy roles, and that it was his TNG exposure that granted him the opportunity to play dramatic leading roles in Shakespeare. However, this is something of an oversimplification: Stewart had already played Claudius, Hamlet’s uncle, in the "BBC Shakespeare," a prestigious project in which the BBC televised every single one of Shakespeare’s plays. Stewart’s performance received extremely positive reviews, with critics saying that the audience came to sympathize primarily with Claudius, even though he is the villain of the story.
Stewart’s research for the role of Picard consisted of repeatedly reading the “Farpoint” script. Despite having appeared in the BBC Shakespeare, the David Lynch version of "Dune" and various other films and TV shows, Stewart felt that he had limited experience with screen as opposed to stage acting. For this reason, he attended the first day of shooting on “Farpoint” (the location scene on the Holodeck), even though he did not appear in the scene, to observe the production process.
Patrick Stewart’s first major tv role was in 1976 as the baddie Sejanus in the BBC miniseries I, Claudius, widely considered to be one of the greatest miniseries ever made. He is terrific in the part!
Love the green screen use :) welcome to NCC 1701-D
I'm glad to see you guys start TNG. As someone that grew up in the 80's and was brought up on and loved TOS, it's nice to see people that ended up loving TOS as much as you going into TNG with such excitement. It mirrors what I felt at the time. It was so great to have a Star Trek TV show again and I loved it. At the end of the day I'm a TOS guy to my core, and it will always be my favorite, but loved watching TNG. As a lot of comments have said, yes, the first season (and 2nd season really) was a bit rough, but as someone that watched the show as it came out, I didn't realize it until I looked back on the series, I just knew it was Star Trek and I was having a blast watching it. I'm so glad I found your channel and to see you guys fall in love with Star Trek and basically are now at the point I was when TNG was released, I'm happy to see your Journey. Have fun, It's going to be an interesting ride.
as someone who grew up on repeats of TOS, I have to tell you... ALL of us geeks were about ready pee our pants with excitement when TNG was getting ready to come out. we COULD NOT WAIT!!
Just a fun fact. The ceiling of the transporter pad in TNG was the floor of the transporter pad in TOS
The scene with Dr. McCoy was a big secret especially for this premiere episode. In fact, it was shot in such a way that - had word of DeForest Kelley's appearance gotten leaked prior to the show being broadcast - it could be cut entirely with no effect on the plot of the episode.
The Ferengi were mentioned in this episode as a tease for what was supposed to become the Federation's new 'major adversary,' much as the Klingons were during the TOS era. Gene Roddenberry had intended to stay away from original series alien races as much as possible - with the exception of Worf representing the new era of the Klingon Empire - thus the directive was, "No Klingons, no Romulans, and especially no Vulcans!" It wasn't until the series started to settle into its own production that Roddenberry relaxed the 'No Original Series Aliens' rule.
The Ferengi would eventually come into their own in the sequel series Deep Space Nine.
You were quick to pick up on the Riker/Troi dynamic being so similar to the Decker/Ilia characters in TMP. TNG took a lot of what was originally developed for Phase II - the Captain/First Officer dynamic, Riker and Troi's relationship - and was transferred entirely into this new series. In fact, in later season, some of the scripts originally written for Phase II were revised and used for TNG.
You were also pretty quick to compare Q to Trelane, the Squire of Gothos. While never confirmed in canon, it has been accepted by the fandom that Trelane was actually an immature member of the Q Continuum, and some of the non-canon novels make reference to that theory.
5:45 can’t wait to see the reactions to not only the difference between the characters and how they handle things, but also what I think is the way Roddenberry wanted Star Trek to be all along.
I remember talking with my older brother about how episodes would be as a TOS episode but we gave that up because it’s soo different in a good way.
13:05 oh this is gonna be fun to see the journey for these two.
You've finally made it! I was lucky enough to watch TNG in its entirety when it originally aired, way back when I just a kid. The observation from one of your Patreon members is correct; the later seasons are so good, they make the first two look terrible by comparison. Someday, you're going to look back at this episode and laugh. There were a lot of problems with Season 1; Gene Roddenberry's health was declining, the writing staff had a high turnover rate, and no one was sure how successful this was going to be. Patrick Stewart auditioned 3 times (once for Data, twice for Picard), but didn't know how well he'd fare in his transition from his Shakespearean theater work to television sci-fi. His agent actually told him the show would fail, so he basically took the role for the paycheck. Roddenberry didn't even want him as Picard, but the others on the production staff ended up being instrumental in Stewart being hired. His initially stern nature as Picard wasn't entirely for show; he took himself far too seriously and berated the rest of the cast for goofing off between takes. He lightened up considerably later on, though. That can be said for all of the cast, too. As you've noticed, everyone seems so stiff and formal. This isn't just because these characters are meeting each other for the first time, but because the actors themselves haven't settled into and fleshed out their characters. One of the best aspects of TNG is that you get to see these people - both the actors and characters - gradually, genuinely develop from coworkers into a family over 7 seasons. Their relationships in real life reflect their relationships onscreen. And yes, although TNG is mostly episodic, there's actually a lot of continuity if you keep your eyes sharp. And as for Q... Well, you'll see.
When this series premiered we were chomping at the bit. It had been announced early in the year that the new show was airing in the fall. We couldn’t wait.
Hell yeah, this is gonna be great. It's embarrassing how much I've been looking forward to you guys' reaction to TNG
As a life long TOS fan❤. I was definitely primed for Star Trek to be back on TV.
Came to really like TNG. It took awhile.
Don't want to say much. Most all your questions will be answered with more shows.
I am NOT the biggest TNG fan in the world...but I'm going to go on this journey with you!! I tried to watch the show during my university days, but as you might expect, school got in the way a lot. Good thing TV wasn't arc-driven in those days. Looking forward to your hearing analyses and opinions.
They built the TNG sets right over the top of the Motion Picture sets. The Battle bridge is the TMP-TVH bridge redressed for TNG. The Corridor sets, Transporter Room, Engineering, Sickbay, all TMP sets converted. Even Kirk's Quarters becomes the crew quarters (without windows). The Bridge set and alter sets were the really new ones without any base built over them. Star Trek V and Star Trek VI ended up having to redress the TNG sets for their own use.
As I've heard, the pilot was originally just the Farpoint station story, written mostly by DC Fontana, but Paramount decided they wanted a movie-size first episode, so Roddenberry put together the business with Q to pad it out (Roddenberry loves him some godlike beings). A little disconnected, but very important to later episodes.
I was 11 when this came out, but had been a Trekkie since I was about 4 (2 older brothers were also into ST & got me hooked). I had no animosity about a new crew or ship, quite the opposite actually. And it's not like this was a reboot or anything like that, but a continuation of the original series.
As for Deforest Kelly's cameo, IIRC there was nothing about it in any of the promos for the show. I was geeking out when I saw him too. The first actual promo I saw for TNG was when we rented Star Trek IV the Voyage Home after it came out on video, and they had a trailer for it on there.
They also had marketing promos with with Cheerios & a toy line done by Galoob. The Cheerios promo offered a poster of the Enterprise (like the painting in Picard's ready room) for a certain number of UPCs from the cereal boxes. I had the poster throughout high school but it got lost sometime after that.
As for the uniforms, apparently the enitre cast HATED them. They were I believe similar to spandex and so you'd have to watch what you eat because these would show everything. Because the bottom of the pants hooked under their boots to stretch the uniform, it was also a PITA for bathroom breaks.
8:24 Something you might not know about Michael Bell is that he's a prolific voice actor, having starred in a lot of 80s and 90s cartoons like Transformers, GI Joe, Pryde of the X-Men and Rugrats. This episode is one of his rare on camera roles.
This was probably, not counting maybe Casey Kasem, the earliest memory of seeing a VO performer whom I would instantly recognize the voice in something live action.
One of at least two OG Transformers/GI Joe actors in the show.
He voiced the main male character in Hanna-Barbera's animated _Lost in Space_ pilot. The only connection between the classic show and this failed cartoon was the Doctor Smith character, once again played by Jonathan Harris.
@@pigs18 Ooh... Who was the other? Was it Chris Lotta?
12:35 I always loved that loud and triumphant fanfare when the replacement guys walk onto the bridge to take over. :D No reason for it, really, but they went with it.
I remember being apprehensive when TNG was first announced. I learned of it from a TV Guide profile and figure I must have been the youngest fan in America to say "How can you gave Star Trek without Kirk and Spock?" I was not quite 6 at the time.
While it takes TNG a while to fully hit its stride there are several excellent first season episodes you should enjoy. I hope you come to love these characters as much as we do.
"He's frozen!" Thus begins Troi's contributions to the series.
I had seen some TOS as a kid, but I grew up watching TNG every week with my dad. I was shocked to find out that the TNG theme was repurposed from TMP.
Deanna Troi is the classic “state the obvious” type of empath.
Everybody said Troi was such a hot babe!
I always thought she was very creepy!
And _rude_ with the way she always told everyone in the room what people's private feelings were! 😒
Her telling on people's feelings was the whole point of her being there, lol. And they were obviously using her as the babe factor since she was the one with the big 80s hair and accentuating uniforms. For me, at the time, I just thought the idea of a starship captain having this "counsellor" literally at his side on the bridge telling him "they're hiding something" was ridiculous. And then Riker sat there repeating Picard's orders and going on the mission because it was too risky for the captain to go. It really made me miss Kirk and TOS all the more.
I love the fact that for these guys it’s ‘the Rec room’ from TAS and not the holodeck. That’s a unique perspective for trek fans for sure.
As a nineties kid, the anticipation for new episodes of TNG were the equivalent of people waiting a week on streaming services nowadays.
With reruns of TOS filling the time between seasons. =)
The waiting weekly .. for 24 weeks was rough. Deep space Nine was the worst for it with the storylines. I miss these shows
@@HammerJammer81 The most painful DS9 wait for me was Season Two into Three, they shook things up with that one!
To most fans the Holodeck is known as the Holodeck, but you guys refered to it as the Rec-Room. That shows that you are one of the few fans who have seen the animated series. Thats cool!
You're exactly right about Will and Deanna being Decker and Iilia, and that they reused the characters since they didn't get to do Phase 2.
Patrick Stewart has such gravitas. From the moment he starts the speech at the very beginning: "Space... the final frontier..." I get chills. He's simply my favorite. ❤
TOS and TNG are my two favorite series of the bunch. Which isn't to say that it's the one you guys will love the most (though, we've already established you guys love TOS). I know there will be DS9ers, maybe the occasional Voyager fans, maybe some Enterprise fans coming out to defend their corner of the Trekdom and I don't want to poopoo their choices, but the aforementioned two are mine. If I had to predict, I think you guys will, by the end, love DS9 and TOS the most. In the meantime, I can't wait for these episodes to drop!
@@dr.juerdotitsgo5119 And I totally agree with you, but half the equation is already set, right, they do love TOS. But, I think the reason they will also love DS9 is b/c it's got a more current story telling sensibility? I could be jumping to conclusions here, but I know at least Alex has seen Breaking Bad and I want to say they've brought up other series where the stories are more serialized and less episodic and I think that's where their love for Trek and the more recent (but not really recent) trend of serialized story telling vs episodic story telling will meet. And DS9 did a phenomenal job of giving every character their time in the sun.
The "occasional" Voyager fan? Voyager gets the most views of any Trek show for Netflix. It appeals most ro casual viewers. It's the hardcore Trekkies on the interwebs that complain about it😂
@@webstersempireProbably b/c most are watching it on Paramount? Honestly, if you did a survey of which franchise is the most popular, I'd bet TNG or DS9 gets the most votes. As an aside, as much as I love TOS, there's too much of gap between it and the rest of the series to stand much of a chance I would guess. TNG was the only one after TOS to get its own movie franchise then a sequel series in Picard.
@@Vulcanerd good comments. TOS & TNG are certainly the most popular to this day. DS9 is one of those shows that has a smaller but very loud following. DS9 fans won't miss an opportunity to tell ya it's the best show. But Voyager is the most watched on the world's largest streaming service, because it holds up very well.
@@dr.juerdotitsgo5119 I am in this camp and I think it is precisely because they are so opposite. They compliment each other and thus provide nearly a full spectrum of ST experience on their own.
I have been SO LOOKING FORWARD to your reaction... I knew you'd enjoy it.
Someone in another comment said what I was thinking: I grew up in the early 70s watching the original series in reruns, and then getting the four original series movies... NEXT GENERATION was the first TREK that I watched on TV episode by episode as each new episode aired. Your reaction reminds me that at the beginning of the series, I was fine with it.
Later in the series the characters grow more relaxed, nuanced, more fleshed out, less stiff, etc, but for these early episodes, all of those qualities never felt wrong or off because they were not only new to viewers, but in the universe of the stories, new to the ship and new to each other.
As always, it's fun to see you pick up things I'd forgotten.
Thanks!
I grew up on TOS and thought it could never be topped. Then TNG became my favorite show. (And THEN we got Deep Space Nine!)
The theme was from one of the original movies by the way! The security chief was played by Denise Crosby, granddaughter of Bing Crosby. That Wesley kid was somewhat of a joke in some circles. The latest show Picard has some references to this show too. The first season of TNG was written during a writer's strike so some of the shows are retreads of the TOS.
Some of them?
They couldn't have waited until they had actual writers to write the episodes before starting up the show?
Honestly, if you had given a parrot Ambien and recorded it talking in its sleep you would have gotten better episodes!
As the show progresses, you’re gonna love the Klingons. Especially when you start to get into the later episodes and deep space nine
So, I am from the gen that grew watching him as Picard. You refer to him, here, as a 'young man'. He always seemed old to me, in that he was older then my father.
I'm so excited that you've finally started TNG, glad you enjoyed this pilot episode. The first couple of seasons get a lot of stick - I don't think they're quite as bad as some people make out but it definitely does find its feet later on.
Remember’Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home’? The “glass” is transparent aluminum.
You are not the first person to say Q is like Trilane. In fact John Delancey knew about Trilane and used him as an influence for his acting.
There is even a novel where they say Q is the father of Trilane. That means Q was one of the parent voices who took Trilane home at the end of Squire of Gothos!
Saw TNG when it originally aired in the 80’s and multiple times since then, but glad to catch your reaction at episode 1 and follow you guys on this journey. Love the discussions before and after the reaction as well.
Young Patrick Stewart? Watch "I, Claudius". Seriously. You will see many familiar faces. Brilliant series.
I don't remember too much of the advertising before TNG debuted but what I do recall (including the preview on the Voyage Home VHS tape that came out just that week), there was no mention of the TOS cameo.
5. According to the Memory Alpha wiki, other candidates for the role of Jean-Luc Picard included Stephen Macht ("Cagney & Lacey"; the first runner-up), James Earl Jones (who needs no introduction), Billy Dee Williams (ditto), Don Ameche ("Trading Places," "Cocoon"), Patrick Bauchau ("A View to a Kill"), Theodore Bikel (star of "Fiddler on the Roof" on Broadway; guest-starred in "The Twilight Zone": “Four O’Clock”), Avery Brooks ("Spenser: For Hire"), William Devane ("Knots Landing"), Peter Donat ("The Godfather Part II"), Andrew Duggan ("The Homecoming: A Christmas Story"), Keir Dullea ("2001: A Space Odyssey"), Dana Elcar ("MacGyver"), James Gammon (best known for "Major League," released in 1989), Paul Gleason ("The Breakfast Club"), Scott Glenn ("The Right Stuff"), Peter Michael Goetz ("Jumpin’ Jack Flash"), Louis Gossett Jr. ("Roots," "An Officer and a Gentleman"), George Grizzard ("The Twilight Zone": “The Chaser” and “In His Image”), Moses Gunn ("Little House on the Prairie"), Fred Gwynne ("The Munsters"), George Hearn (primarily a Broadway actor), Thomas Hill ("The NeverEnding Story"), John Hillerman ("Magnum, P.I."), Robert Hogan (many TV guest appearances, including "The Twilight Zone": “Spur of the Moment”), Barrie Ingham ("The Great Mouse Detective"; guest-starred in "Doctor Who": “The Myth Makers,” now a lost story), Yaphet Kotto ("Live and Let Die," "Alien"), John McMartin ("Sweet Charity"), Edward Mulhare ("The Ghost & Mrs. Muir"; guest-starred in "Battlestar Galactica": “Experiment in Terra”), Edward James Olmos ("Miami Vice"), James Olson ("Rachel, Rachel"), Anthony Quayle ("Lawrence of Arabia"), Mitchell Ryan ("Lethal Weapon"), Telly Savalas ("Kojak"; guest-starred in "The Twilight Zone": “Living Doll”), John Saxon ("A Nightmare on Elm Street" and Roddenberry’s unsold pilot "Planet Earth"), Dick Shawn ("The Producers"), Roy Thinnes ("The Invaders"; guest-starred in "Battlestar Galactica": “Gun on Ice Planet Zero”), Rip Torn ("Cross Creek"), Lee Van Cleef ("For a Few Dollars More," "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly"; guest-starred in "The Twilight Zone": “The Grave”), and Noble Willingham ("Good Morning, Vietnam").
In 1987, when production of TNG began, these actors ranged in age from 39 (Brooks) to 79 (Ameche). Bauchau, born in Belgium, was the only one from the Francosphere. Patrick Stewart was among the youngest of them; only Brooks, Olmos, Macht, Goetz and (possibly) Glenn were younger (according to Wikipedia, sources differ on Glenn’s year of birth). Stewart was 47 years old in 1987, only three years older than I am now, which makes me feel ancient; Alex and Josh referring to him as “young” during their reaction made me feel better about myself (although, of course, they meant “young” in comparison to when he played Charles Xavier). According to the chronology Star Trek has established over the decades, Jean-Luc Picard is 59 during TNG Season 1; humans age more slowly in the 24th century. Dick Shawn died of a heart attack on stage during a comedy performance on April 17, 1987, the month before “Farpoint” began filming. Duggan, Quayle, Van Cleef, Gwynne, Ameche, and Gunn also died before TNG ended.
Hmmm... I've heard of Avery Brooks somewhere 😄
I would have loved to see either Yaphet Koto or Lee Van Cleef as a Starfleet captain! Thanks for sharing!
In the lead up to the premier of TNG, fans were made aware that ONE of the TOS cast was going to have a cameo in the pilot. But we were not told who, how or anything else about it. I remember checking out every background player looking for a familiar face. I even thought one of the Oriental characters in Q's court might be Takei.
Back in the 80s, I actually stopped watching the show into the first season. In season 3, I think, a friend put it on and I said, "that show sucks!" He goes, "No, it's gotten better," and from that point until the end I was hooked.
As far as Alex's aversion to 90 minute pilots go, remember that once commercials were added in this was a two hour event. And it wasnt just a week since the last movie, it was almost 20 year wait for a return to the Federation for most of us.
I’ll watch through every episode, but I’m waiting for when you get to Season 3’s “The Survivors” and “The Bonding” when Piller takes control.
I'm really looking forward to "Measure of a Man."
@@scottwells8064, there are some good episodes in Seasons 1 and 2. It’s oddly similar to manufacturing: if you have no process to make a part and rotate between a brilliant machinist versus someone fresh out of school, that’s what the first two seasons are like. Then, if you build a jig and coach everyone to do the same thing, that’s what Season 3 onward is like.
"Number One!" ; "Engage!"
If you remember are designations and terms used in the the original unaired pilot The Cage.
Jonathan Frakes was a great villain in Gargoyles!
There’s a deep cut
And a villain in the new adventures of superman 😅
@@Sinocthehodgeheg"RRRIITCH PEOPLE! "
I'm Scandinavian, and growing up in the 80'ies, this show was my JAM! I watched it religiously, and it definitely helped shape my moral compass. It's a treat to get to watch along with a couple of first-time watchers, experiencing the show all over again through your eyes. Thanks for uploading these videos 🙂
Damn, you guys are really going through all of it?
Fuck yes!
When I was a kid, Leonard Nimoy hosted a show called In Search Of. It was similar to Beyond Belief. Each episode explored something like the Bermuda Triangle or UFO's. I used to watch it all the time and it makes me very nostalgic.
After you guys finish season 2 I highly recommend the documentary Chaos on the Bridge, it'll give some great insight for everything you'll have seen until that point
I was 13 in 1988 when the local FOX station did a marathon of the first season of TNG to the lead up for the second season. I spent that whole weekend glued to the tube, my life forever altered. Every Sunday and Wednesday at 6pm, I watched Star Trek: The Next Generation. Engage!
9. Gene Roddenberry was extremely reluctant to feature alien races from TOS, including Klingons, in TNG, wanting the new series to stand on its own with a new mythos. Former TOS producer Robert Justman, now Supervising Producer of TNG, urged Roddenberry to include a “Klingon marine” in the Enterprise crew, but Roddenberry was resistant to the idea.
The way in which Lieutenant Worf finally became part of TNG is an unedifying story. When Roddenberry expanded D. C. Fontana’s 90-minute script into a two-hour TV movie, one of his additions, along with the Q storyline, was the separation of the ship’s saucer and stardrive sections. Someone pointed out to Roddenberry that it would be necessary to leave one of the female characters - either Troi or Tasha - in command of the saucer while the stardrive turned to confront Q. *In Roddenberry’s very next draft,* Worf suddenly existed and took command of the saucer. An important and compelling character thus owed his presence on TNG to Roddenberry’s sexism.
Michael Dorn successfully auditioned for the role of Worf while the filming of “Farpoint” was already underway; he was absent from the first TNG cast portrait. The original intention was that Worf would be only a recurring character, but the producers saw the character’s potential, and Dorn signed on as a member of the regular cast (and thus appears in the episode’s opening credits). Michael Dorn is African American, something my mother was surprised and delighted to learn when she saw him on a TV talk show after she had already watched TNG for a couple of years. The casting notes for Worf sent to agents specifically requested Black actors to save time on the makeup process every morning. James Avery (who later played Uncle Phil on "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air") and James Louis Watkins (later known as Julian Christopher) were the other two finalists for the role of Worf; Watkins would play Hagon in “Code of Honor” shortly thereafter.
One thing that I noticed when it first aired: the Scant (skirted) variant of the uniform was also worn by Male crew members (I counted 9 scenes where one appeared); it's a cool thing that uniform designs weren't dependent on gender in this era...
Wow you guys are really not ready for where this show will take you. TNG is for sure the greatest Trek show. Keep up the good work!
Something that is very interesting and not many people catch it - in the very first episode of Star Trek TOS, they played the shows theme song during the incredible never-before seen “Warp Speed” jump. In TNG, they did the same thing in the first episode - they played the theme song during the incredible never-before seen “Saucer Separation” sequence.
Data is definitely my favorite character. Had a huge crush on Denise Crosby.
Data origins start from a TV pilot Gene made in the 70's for a series that wasn't picked up called The Questor Tapes. It's main character was an android (one of a long series built by an alien race in order to watch over humanity (borrowing elements from Gary Seven)). Though human in appearance, due to a mishap, he, like Data, did not have emotions. They even borrowed a couple bits from this pilot, and gave them to Data. At one point, the idea that Data was the latest in this series of androids was considered, but was later dropped.
I was sitting on pins and needles for weeks waiting for TNG to debut, and I was horrified when it did lol
I was convinced it would be canceled after the first season, luckily it really didn't have any sci-fi competition at the time, then really found its legs in the third season and turned into a juggernaut
Note: Some claim that no one uses money in the future... but Dr. Crusher has them charge her ship account for the purchase! Somebody is using money in the first episode.
I’m glad you’re here now but I really can’t wait until you get to Deep Space Nine. And you guys are spot on about Trelaine / Q. It was retconned in an official novel that they are the same species.
Also hopefully one day you’ll get a chance to do the 2000,s Battlestar Galactica as well.